The Best (and Worst) Exercises for Your Bladder
November is Bladder Health Month, which makes it the perfect time to talk about something we see all the time in our clinic: how your workouts can help or hinder your bladder and pelvic floor health.
Many people assume that more exercise automatically means a stronger body, strong pelvic floor, and better bladder control. But here’s the truth: not all workouts are created equal when it comes to your pelvic floor. Some strengthen and coordinate these deep muscles beautifully, while others can overload them when not done with proper form and pressure management strategies — leading to leaks, urgency, or discomfort.
DISCLAIMER: We want to make it clear that leaking is not normal during exercise (although common), and ALL exercise can be done in a way that doesn’t cause leaks. However, certain types of exercise can absolutely trigger pelvic issues, especially if you already have pelvic floor dysfunction going on. Many patients come in not even realizing they are doing their exercise incorrectly, or in a way that puts added pressure on the pelvic floor muscles, leading to more leaks!
With that said, let’s get into it!
The Best Exercises for Your Bladder & Pelvic Floor
These gentle, more low-impact, yet effective workouts build strength, coordination, and mobility — all key for a happy, healthy pelvic floor.
Pilates
Pilates focuses on controlled movement, breathwork, and core alignment, which are all things your pelvic floor loves. It helps you connect your deep core and pelvic floor muscles, improving both strength and relaxation.
Yoga
Yoga promotes flexibility, calm, and full-body awareness. Certain poses help open the hips, improve pelvic mobility, and calm the nervous system — which directly benefits bladder control and coordination.
Barre or Functional Strength Training
Barre-style movements use small, precise motions that strengthen without excess strain. When done with proper breathing and posture, these workouts build hip and core stability, supporting your pelvic floor and bladder in the process.
Exercises That Can Be Tough on Your Bladder & Pelvic Floor
To be clear: these workouts aren’t “bad,” they just need a little extra awareness and proper pelvic floor support to avoid symptoms.
Also, if you are someone who already struggles with bladder issues like leaking, it might be best to cut back on these types of exercises temporarily, to lessen symptoms while you work on your pelvic health.
CrossFit or High-Intensity HIIT
High-impact movements like box jumps, burpees, and heavy lifts can put significant pressure on the bladder and pelvic floor. Without proper breathing and muscle coordination, this can lead to leaks, heaviness, or discomfort.
Trampoline or Jump Rope Workouts
Bouncing may look fun (and is a killer cardio workout), but it’s also one of the hardest activities for the pelvic floor. The repeated downward pressure from jumping can easily overwhelm your bladder’s ability to stay supported, especially if you’re postpartum or dealing with pelvic floor dysfunction.
Running
Running is great for cardiovascular fitness, but repetitive impact can challenge your pelvic floor if it’s not functioning optimally. Strengthening your hips, glutes, and core, and learning proper breath coordination through pelvic PT can make running leak-free and comfortable again.
Important note: Talk to your pelvic floor physical therapist about how to make adjustments to your exercise routine to manage your symptoms.
Our Advice
You don’t have to give up your favorite workouts, but learning how to move with your pelvic floor rather than against it is most important to avoid developing or worsening bladder symptoms.
A pelvic floor physical therapist can help you:
- Identify which exercises your body is ready for
- Teach proper breathing and pressure management techniques
- Create a personalized plan so you can stay active without symptoms holding you back
At Uplift, we believe you can and should be able to do the activities you love without worrying about bladder issues like leaking. We realize this is not the reality for a lot of people! For that reason we are dedicated to helping retrain your pelvic floor to support you during your favorite exercises to avoid stress and worry about leaks.
Support Your Bladder, Support Your Body
Exercise should make you feel strong, confident, and capable, not worried about leaks, pain or pressure.
If you’ve noticed bladder symptoms during your workouts, you don’t have to keep worrying about it, and you shouldn’t have to let it affect your ability to exercise how you want. Pelvic floor physical therapy can help you stay active, regain control, and feel confident again.
